This invention relates to a truck cargo bed cover for protecting and securing goods stored therewithin, while permitting easy and effective direct access to the confines of the cargo bed for storage and removal purposes.
Various protective and security covers for truck beds, having pivotally opening cover panels, are known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,557, for example, comprises a laterally-extending security cover assembly for placement over the bed of a truck. There are also a number of longitudinally-extending truck bed cover assemblies. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,284,303, 4,531,775, and 4,695,087, respectively, include a pair of longitudinally-extending, permanently hinged cover panels in which their hinges are each permanently connected on the outside longitudinally-extending edges of the cover panels for attachment onto the sidewalls of the truck bed. When the panels are moved to an open position, the interior of the truck bed is available for storing or withdrawing goods. However, in order to store or withdraw goods located within the bed, one must seek access through the back of the truck since the sides are blocked by the uprightly extending panels. In another class of truck bed cover assemblies including a plurality of longitudinally-extending, hinged cover panels, a centrally-located single hinge member permanently connects the side-by-side longitudinally-extending, inner edges of the panels, one to the other (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,420,570, 3,514,152, 3,765,717, and 4,261,611). In this latter type of assembly, access can be more readily made to the interior of the truck bed from either of the open sides. If, however, the truck cover assembly is to be removed from the truck body, such as depicted in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,420,570, one of the panel sections is typically pivotally folded atop the other panel section in order to remove the entire folded cover from the truck itself. This procedure is at best quite cumbersome due to size and weight of the entire truck cover structure. The removal problem is even more exacerbated in truck canopies of the type set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,611, in which cover panels are attached to a central, longitudinally-extending beam member of a structural frame assembly. The frame assembly further includes, in addition to the central beam member, front and back members, and a pair of side members joined one to the other. These truck cover assemblies including frame structure are quite expensive to build. Furthermore, at least two persons are needed to remove them, in their entirety, from atop the truck bed. Another problem associated with the above truck bed cover assemblies is maintaining them in a water-tight condition. The above prior art assemblies which seek to overcome this problem do so by attempting to seal the structure from the effects of rain and snow using weather stripping material and the like. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,611, a complex and costly system to protect against rain and splashing from road surfaces is provided including a series of external flanges located on the perimeter of the frame assembly and on the cover panels, respectively, to deflect the water away from the truck bed or to drain the water toward the exterior front or rear edges of the panels.
Therefore a need exists for a truck cargo bed protective covering which is substantially watertight, provides easy access to the contents of the cargo bed, and includes covering panels which are individually easily removed and reassembled on a truck by persons having minimum strength and mechanical skills.